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Unit History: The Battle of Kingsdale, 109 PA
Overture: The Whykin Accord In early October of 109, the Division moved assets into the independent Coalition ally of Whykin in order to assist in Coalition diplomatic efforts to bring Whykin fully into the fold. The Undersecretary for Frontier Affairs, Reynard Fredericks, was a vital component of this diplomatic push, and at its conclusion Whykin agreed to enter the Coalition as the heart of a new south-Missouri state. Following an impressive military parade to signal Coalition appreciation of Whykin's help on the Tolkeen front, the Whykin Accord was signed on 15 October 109, making Whykin the sixth Coalition state (excluding Quebec). The Kingsdale Provision A secret provision in the Whykin Accord compelled the new state to dispatch its forces in cooperation with the Coalition's efforts to overthrow the neighboring city of Kingsdale. Whykin agreed to commit half of its military forces, approximately equal to a Coalition Regular Army infantry division, to the attack, while the Ministry of Information committed an overwhelming volume of its own men, nearly equal to the total population of Kingsdale itself, to the offensive. These negotiations remained secret, but later capture of Kingsdale's signal-intercept traffic indicated that Kingsdale had heard about them. The Battle of Kingsdale The Ministry spared no effort in preparing the battlefield in Kingsdale. Two entire technical groups, led by Colonels Piper and Sorensen, led the way in establishing a climate of fear and mutual distrust between various factions in the city. The Juicer Army of Liberation, recently greeted as Kingsdale's bulwark against Coalition intervention, instead became a target, with Coalition spies agitating the population against the JAL and vice versa. Sorensen, a true technical specialist, even improvised a "burnout" of a Delphi Juicer substitute and created a string of riots outside the city in the last days before the invasion. The actual invasion went much more smoothly than anyone anticipated. Assets in place inside the city, including A Company, Death's Head Reconnaissance Battalion, assaulted a string of objectives throughout town, some successfully, some not. One of the most successful assaults secured the city's communications hub, including the techno-wizard computer known as Axiom, and cut the military and civilian communications lines radiating out from Kingsdale proper. Additional technical group actions led to the destruction of the Juicer Football League stadium fifteen minutes into the first quarter of the league championships. Other targets either seized or destroyed include the Kingsdale Enhancement Clinic, captured with heavy losses and secured for a research team from Lone Star, the Gunnery Trading Emporium, seized and its contents distributed to rioters before it was demolished, and the Arcadion, a temple to the godling Arcadia, which was captured in a daring assault by Colonel Sorensen's troops. Strong resistance at the city's outlying fortification slowed the initial Security Forces assault, though General Detrick's 1st Division was able to push through before the northern defenses were fully alerted. Generals Houser and Eckert were slowed significantly by magical intervention, reaching their objectives only at the very limit of the original timeline. The Coalition plan called for a vertical envelopment on the city's outlying airfield and objectives in town itself, which was launched on schedule and took both the airfield and the city center with a minimum of resistance. During the final phases of the battle, the Coalition lost one of its elite commandos when Colonel Jack Piper was killed during an attempt to reach safety with another Coalition unit. He died in close combat with a Juicer who was following him after his escape from Kingsdale's Juicertown district, as his team reached the telecommunications center. Aftermath The immediate aftermath of the Kingsdale occupation was to strengthen Coalition rule in Missouri. The Coalition established a protectorate over the greatly reduced city, installing Undersecretary Fredericks as the Protector while giving most of the territory between the city and Whykin to the new state of Whykin. Within the Coalition, Colonel Piper's death cleared the way for a reorganization of the Ministry's technical service, centralizing it under newly promoted Brigadier General Otto Sorensen. Sorensen brought his prisoner, Arcadia, to Chi-Town for the first in what are expected to be a very public set of trials. The charges range from crimes against humanity to invasion and plundering of Earth. Category:History